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I was rather
intrigued by the name Dennis Quaid being
attached to “Pandorum.” I’ve
always been a fan of Quaid’s work,
but this is the first time I can remember
his being in a dark and heavy sci fi slasher
movie. Most of his sci fi forays have been
light and frothy. “Innerspace”,
“The Day After Tomorrow”, and
“Dreamscape” were what I consider
lighter fare. Even “Enemy Mine”
was more of a psychological ‘buddy
film’. “Pandorum” was
something altogether different and I never
expected to see him in a film of this type.
Initially, his addition to the cast really
piqued my interest in the film as I thought
it might mean that it would rise above other
‘space guys caught in a ship overrun
by monsters.’ I was expecting a dark
and brooding monster flick, with a great
plot at its core. Even the first 20 minutes
of the movie kind of sucked me in as I watched
actor Ben Foster stumble around the seemingly
empty ship and try to shake off the effects
of hypersleep.
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He can’t remember where he is… or
why. Unfortunately, after this rather promising
beginning… it kind of falls flat.
“Pandorum” is as I mentioned before,
a ‘monster movie on a ship.’ As the
story, as it were, develops we are introduced
to a band of other survivors on board this ship.
We eventually learn why they are here and what
their mission is, and while interesting, it ultimately
it does not really matter. The main reason to
watch the movie is to see men and women scurrying
around a maddeningly dark ship, being chased by
mutant creatures out to disembowel them. Eventually
it comes down to the formulaic last man standing
scenario.
This in itself would not necessarily be bad;
after all I like a good man vs. monster flick
when I’m in the mood. But I really like
to see the action in order to really be entertained
by it. Most of the sequences involving the creature
attacks are not very well shot insomuch as the
director seems to be either going for an ‘artistic’
approach or keep the budget down. Choppy shots
do not an action feature make. Add to this the
very grainy nature of many of the scenes and together
most of the money shots were more ‘anti’
than ‘climactic.’
I have to give props to the cast however. Most
turn in the type of over the top performances
you’d expect from this style of movie. At
times they chew the dialogue with hammy delight,
and admittedly this makes the movie a little more
fun than not. But it is still not enough to really
save the movie and make me able to highly recommend
it. At best, I’d say give it a rental first
to see if you liked it more than I did, then go
from there to decide if you want to add it permanently
to your collection.
As far as the overall quality of the transfer,
on Bluray it looks… okay. There are a handful
of scenes that really shine with the addition
of high definition, but the murky and fairly grainy
look of other sequences hurt it rather than help.
I understand, thanks to the director commentary,
why the filmmakers were going for this type of
look, but realistically it didn’t help the
film to be so gritty looking. /as far as audio
goes, that hits completely to the other side of
the spectrum. The audio is spectacular, as the
silences are almost deafening and the ‘startle
scares’ are punctuated by some jaw jarring
and well placed sound effects.
Speaking of the commentary, director Christian
Alvert steps up to the plate along with producer
Jeremy Bolt, both of whom chime in with some pretty
interesting tidbits about the making of the film.
I’d almost have to say watching the movie
with the commentary was a tad more entertaining
than watching it without. There is also a healthy
dose of deleted and extended scenes, several of
which were worthwhile to see if you have any interest
in the back story of the film. Additionally, you’ll
find a brief ‘making of’ featurette,
the best part of which is the introduction of
KNB’s work on the prosthetics. You also
find out in another featurette ‘What Happened
to Nadia’s Team”, which you’ll
understand the meaning of after watching the film
as well as a ’Flight Team Training Video’
meant to entice Earth folks to join the intergalactic
colonists in space. Finally, a huge collection
of still galleries fulfills the behind the scenes
geek’s need to see how the filmmakers originally
conceptualized everything. Oh, and there’s
a Digital Copy of the movie, but it’s for
Windows based PC’s…. so no watching
it on my iPhone (DARN IT!!!)
“Pandorum,” really started off promising,
but very quickly went left of field. To its credit,
there are a lot of decent scares to be had, but
the overall style didn’t really fulfill
what I need from a sci fi horror flick.
Directed by: Christian Alvart
Starring: Dennis Quad, Ben Foster, Cam Gigandet,
Antje Traue, Cung Le, Eddie Rouse
Extras: The World of Elysium; What Happened to
Nadia’s Team; Flight Team Training Video;
Audio Commentary with Director Christian Alvart
and Producer Jeremy Bolt; Deleted and Alternate
Scenes; Still Galleries; Digital Download
Specification: 1080p (2.35:1); Dolby True HD 5.1
Studio: Anchor Bay
Release Date: 01/19/2010
MPAA Rating: R
http://www.anchorbayent.com
We'll give Pandorum a C.
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